Sprites, Jets, and Glowing Balls: The Science of Lightning
Ever wonder how lightning works? Scientists are still figuring it out, but what we do know is fascinating. Learn about positive and negative lightning, red sprites, blue jets, and ball lightning...
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Whether it’s up in the sky during a thunderstorm, or helping send a DeLorean back to the future, lightning is a beautiful, dangerous phenomenon. Most people picture lightning as a brilliant white strike that flashes between a cloud and the ground. But there’s also lightning within clouds, and between clouds. Plus, there’s colored lightning, and even glowing ball lightning. It’s all about a build-up of electric charge -- and the release of all that energy in a bright flash. To have a lightning strike, first you need to separate positive and negative charges within a cloud. Clouds are essentially a bunch of really small, dust-borne ice crystals and water molecules. During a storm, the air is moving around and making these particles collide. So,...
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Whether it’s up in the sky during a thunderstorm, or helping send a DeLorean back to the future, lightning is a beautiful, dangerous phenomenon. Most people picture lightning as a brilliant white strike that flashes between a cloud and the ground. But there’s also lightning within clouds, and between clouds. Plus, there’s colored lightning, and even glowing ball lightning. It’s all about a build-up of electric charge -- and the release of all that energy in a bright flash. To have a lightning strike, first you need to separate positive and negative charges within a cloud. Clouds are essentially a bunch of really small, dust-borne ice crystals and water molecules. During a storm, the air is moving around and making these particles collide. So,...
